Spain, which went from less to more, defeated China this Sunday by 5-18, in the premiere of the women’s tournament, in which Miki Oca’s team went from less to more and showed their high level as world and European runner-up.
It was a match between old acquaintances. Miki Oca, the Spanish coach, won an Olympic gold in 1996 under Joan Jané, now the Chinese coach. Jané’s assistant is Salva Gómez, Oca’s teammate and Jané’s former player, and the Spanish physical trainer, Ángel Andreo, also from that generation.
All of them met in Spain’s opening match in this World Cup, a match in which the world and European runners-up did not feel comfortable from the start. They could not play in transition, nor filter balls to their buoys and their scoring actions resulted from taking advantage of the superior actions (the first three).
Spain escaped with a 3-1 in the first quarter, but the Asians balanced (3-3) at the beginning of the second. From then on, Miki Oca’s team balanced their defense, were more precise in attacks and the game was closed.
China played further and further away from Martina Terré’s goal and Spain attacked more and more fluidly. Thus they achieved a partial 0-3 to 3-6, with goals from Elena Ruiz, Paula Crespí and Paula Camus, the first from the buoy.
They even increased the distance a little more until half-time with two more goals, the first from Judith Forca, making it 4-8, after a partial 5-2 for the Spanish, with which the game was practically decided.
A transition resolved by Ariadna Ruiz made it 4-9 and Sanfeng Nong, with a wrist shot, made it 5-9. In the final part of the third quarter is when Spain felt better. Maica García gifted herself with a backhand goal (5-10) and Ariadna Ruiz repeated in a counterattack action for par (5-11). Paula Crespí with her fourth goal in the last action of the quarter put the maximum on the scoreboard (5-12).
In the final quarter, Camus took advantage of a superiority, Bea Ortiz started to walk her wrist and Spain closed the game with a final partial of 0-6 for the final 5-18. Spain’s next match will be this Tuesday against Greece (17:00 CET).
China: Jiaqi Zhang; Yan (-), Xiong (-), Zhong (-), Shiyun Wang (-), Lu Yiwen (2), Huan Wang (1), Deng (-), Nong (1), Li ( -), Jing Zhang (1) and Xuan Wang (-).
Spain: Martina Terre; Anna Espar (2), Bea Ortiz (2), Nona Pérez (1), Paula Crespí (4), Elena Ruiz (2), Forca (1), Paula Camus (2), Maica García (1), Paula Leitón ( -), Ariadna Ruiz (2), Isabel Piralkova (1).
Referees: Kaeshler (AUT) and Stanojevic (SRB). Eliminated: Paula Crespí, Sanfeng Nong.
Partials: 2-3, 2-5, 1-4 and 0-6.
Incidents: Opening match of group A, played in the Aspire Dome pool.
